explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2702: What If 2 Gift Guide

2022-12-01T15:02:36Z

MarsJenkar: Posing a question.

The puzzle is almost certainly a reference to the Monty Hall problem, since that's usually framed in terms of 3 doors: behind 2 are goats (bad prizes), behind the third is a new (the desirable prize). While the other puzzles share some attributes, I doubt they're intended. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:55, 23 November 2022 (UTC)
:Who says goats are a bad prize? If you want to make goat's milk cheese, they are quite necessary. Whereas a car may be a burden, most states still require the recipient to pay sales tax, which can be thousands of dollars. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 01:58, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
:Maybe figuring out how to transport the goats in the new car without the goats ruining it would also be a puzzle.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.215|172.71.102.215]]
:I don't think there is a solid enough connection to the Goat, Wolf, Cabbage problem to warrant including in the table as a reference. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.124|162.158.166.124]] 18:26, 30 November 2022 (UTC)

The goat can be left on its own, but not with the fox or the cabbage. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.135|172.70.162.135]] 00:12, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Another problem with the James Webb photo is that, from its orbit, the Earth appears too close to the Sun to be safe to photograph. So, the recipient of the gift would have to travel into deep space, well past the orbit of the Moon, for the shoot. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.29|172.70.111.29]] 22:22, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

Wasn't Bobcat in a Box inspired by xkcd #576 and its title text, which wasn't even the first boxed bobcat in xkcd? Feels weird to say that the boxed bobcat is a reference to an external brand and not xkcd's rich internal history of mailing people bobcats. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 06:14, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

I assume that even if the platinum (or platinum-iridium) cylinder used to define kilogram was recreation, rather than original, it would still be very expensive ($31,965 per kg). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:40, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

== "Katherine and Brandon" ==

Could someone explain those Names in the "Chemistry" entry to me? It would be very atypical for Randall to make a mistake in that place, but both seem to be impossible to spell with the periodic table of elements.
Potassium, Astatine and Helium would give K-At-He- (and some radiation posioning) and Iodine and Neon -Id-Ne. But neither Rubidium (Ru), nor Radium (Ra), nor Ruthentium (Ru), nor Rhodium (Rh) nor Radon (RN) give you a pure "R" and likewise there is no Element Ri or Er, so it is impossible to put the "R" into "Katherine".
Likewise "Brandon" could be started with Boron (B), Radon (Ra), Nitrogen (N) and finished with Oxygen (O) and again Nitrogen (N), but there are only two "D"s in the whole peridoic table and both are fixed to other letters, that would not fit: Paladium (Pd) and Gadolinium (Gd).
P.S.: 3 full Minutes of Captcha-solving for a Wiki? WTF??? {{unsigned ip|172.70.247.13|23:40, 23 November 2022}}
:Potassium-Astatine-Hydrogen-'''Erbium'''-Iodine-Neon [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.184|172.69.79.184]] 23:59, 23 November 2022 (UTC)
:As for Brandon, you seem to have missed '''Neodymium''' (Nd). So, Boron-Radon-Neodymium-Oxygen-Nitrogen [[User:TurZ|TurZ]] ([[User talk:TurZ|talk]]) 07:00, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
Could he be limiting himself to rendering only the capital letters of each element? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.43|172.71.160.43]] 00:17, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
But Astatine is so radioactive that no one has ever seen it. A lump big enough to physically see would instantly sublimate with its own heat of radioactivity. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.7|172.68.210.7]] 00:08, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Due to the prior comic, I actually bought a Cybiko (I'm into older computer collecting). Now that he's mentioned it again, I'm thankful I got it quick, before the inevitable price rise. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.106|108.162.221.106]] 01:00, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
:Is it good? —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | [https://www.google.com Google search] | current time: {{CURRENTTIME}}) 05:28, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
:I got one, long ago. I think it has a serial connection (RS232?) as well as a radio of whatever kind, and there was reasonably good SDK support for writing your own software, on PC, to download to the Cybiko. I had and have an RSI problem with my hands, and what I tried to do is to use it as a one-handed PC keyboard - so I had to do some pretty simple programming for that, to transmit keys. On the PC end, I think that a serial keyboard was or is a standard supported disability aid option. It might wear out, thought. But currently I do better with a touch screen PC and the "FITALY" on-screen typing program - the man who wrote that died, though. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.222|172.70.162.222]] 13:03, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Might be relevant, but What If? had a chapter dedicated to the hypotetical idea of building a periodic table with each square comprised of the element represented therein. It obviously gets dangerous/apocalyptic by the time you get past the first couple rows.--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.20|172.71.114.20]] 13:19, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

A quick and largely inelegant run-through (assuming I listed all 118 correctly) shows that as well as two single characters (J and Q) for which there are currently no possible elemental spellings, there are a further 45 digraphs (excluding those already rendered impossible) with no possibilities of being spelt, as well as 2543 trigraphs (again, minus all those predisqualified) which cannot be so rendered. (Without such cascading exclusions, that's 145 digraphs and 8365 trigraphs - out of the basic and otherwise unaccented 26 letters, making a full 8%, 21% and 48%, respectively of all conceivable lengths from 1 to 3, incapable of being sequenced.)
 Though all absences should more properly be weighted to the likelihood of encountering them, as well. Maybe "ytz" isn't such a great loss, and "qqq" even less so; except perhaps by the next Musk child, who will probably have other issues to worry about. But the impossibility of "dan" (not even with Deuterium, which was just one of those that I didn't include in my check) causes problems for anyone called Dan as well as hypernyms (Daniel/Danielle, etc, though for those, and others, the lack of "iel" is probably a bigger problem). If anyone is called anything like "BMX" or "BMW" (depending upon the peculiar, and possibly misguided, aspirations of their parents) then they're probably also outliers!
 If I find a good name-frequency list, I may run the lists through a further stage to highlight particularly overlooked holes in the sequences such that we can work out which new symbols (under the guise of whole 'relevant' names) we could most usefully petition IUPAC to adopt for elements 119+... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.136|172.71.178.136]] 07:10, 27 November 2022 (UTC)
:Impossibility of a short name does not necessarily imply longer names containing them are impossible. "Tim" is not possible, but "Timothy" is. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.30|172.70.46.30]] 12:01, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

== Psychology ==

Hi, this is my first edit, I hope I'm doing it right. The psychology example is most likely about the norm of reciprocity (see Wikipedia). It's a very strong norm. Violations of this norm can indeed cause distress to a point where people express anger if they can't reciprocate (which seems somewhat irrational at times).
I'm a psychology student from Germany, I might do some errors when writing in english :) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.85|198.41.242.85]] 06:15, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
: Welcome! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.156|172.71.154.156]] 21:58, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

== Baby Shoes ==

Has nobody mentioned the xkcd comic that references this yet? https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1540:_Hemingway

Artinum [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.186|172.71.178.186]] 09:45, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

The alt text is a reference to Ernest Hemingway's 6 word short story [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."] This is also referenced in comic 1540 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1540:_Hemingway —[[User:Robm|Robm]] ([[User talk:Robm|talk]]) 19:04, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

...this was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2702:_What_If_2_Gift_Guide&diff=299763&oldid=299762 already Explained] before any of the above was added to the discussion. (It had to be improved, e.g. the wikilink, but now it's fairly well resolved unless you think it needs tweaking.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 21:40, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

I can't be the only one who wishes he'd done it as "Babies/Literature (Not Both): Baby Shoes" -- mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.134|172.69.42.134]] 15:41, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

Anyone who reads that short story and thinks it's sad hasn't experiences how quickly babies grow in a while. We've given away so many baby shoes that the baby grew out of before they got a chance to wear them. It's just a reality of life. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:43, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

== Stephen King ==

I admit I haven't read it, but might the entry for Stephen King's desk be a reference to ''Misery'', which involves an author kidnapped by a psycho fan of his? Let me know how far off base I am, or if there's actually some merit to my speculation. [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 15:02, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-12-22T02:26:19Z

MarsJenkar: Response re: MythBusters test

Sorry for intruding, I am just delighted that I am early [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.161|162.158.166.161]] 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

"Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it." This line might (inadvertently?) reference the common alien-movie fail in which massive spacecraft hover at low altitude over human populations without obliterating them and their infrastructure. It might also be bathroom humor. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.134|172.68.129.134]] 15:56, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm with the original explanation. The aliens just don't seem very advanced, so they're worried that the spaceships are poorly constructed and pieces might fall off, or the entire ship might just drop. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:19, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:You are probably correct with respect to Randall's intentions. The situation, though, brings to my mind Turtledove's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series Worldwar series], in which "The Race" had very advanced technology (hence little risk of spaceships crashing on their own) but had, at least initially, a poor opinion about human technologies and their advancement. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:31, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reference, 172.68.129.132! I’m enjoying listening to the series for free through my public library account using Hoopla. Apparently the original e-books had atrocious copy editing so I get to miss out on that visual horror. :-). [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:02, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Also reminds me of that StarTrek (NextGen) episode where a very low intelligence species has advanced space travel that it obtains by stealing it from other species. (Sorry - I forget the episode title). [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
:::That was Season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.38|172.70.117.38]] 17:28, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

To the individual who made a callback to Capri Sun--bless you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.83|172.70.130.83]] 19:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

:Need a category for this recurring comic: [[:Category:Alien Visitors]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.65|172.69.35.65]] 00:33, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

Doesn’t the United States still add lead to gasoline used for piston airplane engines, and also high octane race car fuel?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.55|162.158.62.55]] 03:28, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
:Very limited niche use remains, phased out of major applications. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
::Does 167,000 aircraft in the USA (plus more around the world) count as “limited niche use”? Assuming a super conservative estimate of an average of only 100 hours/year/airframe and an equally conservative burn rate of 10 gal/hr, that’s 167 million gallons of leaded gasoline burned per year. See https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754 for more info on the FAA’s continuing refusal to remove lead from avgas.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.44|172.70.110.44]] 04:46, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
:::Considering the 276 million cars in the USA and their yearly consumption of 123.5 billion gallons of fuel, that is pretty much limited niche use, yes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.232|162.158.94.232]] 14:40, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
::::Classic example of a logical fallacy. To paraphrase your assertion: “Because the market for 100LL fuel for piston aircraft is 0.1% the size as the unleaded gasoline market for automobiles, 100LL fuel for piston aircraft is a niche market” but you are comparing apples to bacon by comparing automotive unleaded gasoline to 100LL aviation fuel. Status as “niche” or “not niche” is based on sales of leaded fuel; cars run on unleaded gasoline, diesel, or electricity, and are thus irrelevant to the discussion. I mean, why not mention how much jet-A is burned by turbine aircraft? Answer: because it’s irrelevant to the discussion. Cars burning unleaded fuel is irrelevant to the discussion of leaded gasoline. In terms of absolute quantities, piston aircraft burn far more 100LL than anything else, and lead from those aircraft remains a significant source of lead pollution.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.48|172.70.114.48]] 03:59, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

::Although lead was originally added to gas in order to improve efficiency, it was retained in order to reduce refining expense. After refining crude oil, you get gasoline at a variety of octanes. The different octanes are blended to produce what you pay for (e.g. 87 for regular, 93 for premium). Lead is an octane-boosting additive, allowing manufacturers to ship sub-standard gas (that is a little below the rated octane), adding lead to bring it up to standard. Without lead, you need to blend in a higher proportion of higher-octane gas in order to get the required octane rating. Which is why, back when lead was being phased out, unleaded gas cost more than leaded. The effect of lead reducing engine knock is simply a result of the gas having a higher octane rating. High octane gas without lead (e.g. premium) has the same effect.

::Another interesting side point is that computer-controlled refineries have effectively reduced the quality of gas you get at the pump. There are serious legal penalties for selling gas with an octane rating below what is labeled, but no penalties for being higher. Back when refineries were not computer controlled, they were not precise enough to produce the exact blend required, so they would always err a little higher (e.g. selling 88 octane labeled as 87). But with modern systems, they can sell exactly what's labeled, so consumers don't get any free bonus octane anymore. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 16:22, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Leaded gasoline doesn't just provide anti-knock capability, in older cars, the lead gradually accumulates around the valve seats and serves to soften the impact of the valve as it snaps shut. Modern cars have both anti-knock sensors and hardened valve seats - so you don't need it anymore. My 1960 Mini needs leaded gas because of the valve-seat issue - and as a result I have to use a lead additive for about one in five tankfuls of gas. Fortunately, that car is mostly a "garage queen" and is only driven to local car shows and such. I atone for this by driving a Tesla as my main vehicle! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
::: Why can't you use tetraethylbismuth whose metal is soft and low melting like lead but much less toxic? [[User:Oxygen|Oxygen]] ([[User talk:Oxygen|talk]]) 18:52, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

An honorary mention might be made to {{w|Thomas Midgley Jr.}}, who helped to make both TEL and CFCs widely used. (Though didn't get the chance to widely promote his bed-lift before it also proved unsafe.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the Hindenburg exploded. It just burned.

One would question how benevolent these aliens are. They only offer inferior technology (pyramids, biplanes) which they could have ''trivially'' seen not to be useful, or they offer harmful technology like lead-based gasoline and inefficient fruit-presses. On the other hand they do not offer the one tech we don't have, e.g. still-standing flying saucers. Thus one may question their real motives... <Insert reference to V>. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:53, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
: Or maybe they're trying to ensure we have a well rounded tech growth rather than beelining to spaceflight. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 21:35, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

: For sure the Hindenburg didn't explode - and there is evidence that much of the problem wasn't the loss of the hydrogen anyway since hydrogen flames ascend UPWARDS away from the passenger gondola - and hydrogen burns at a relatively low temperature. A bigger problem was that the skin of the airship was sprayed with iron oxide on the inside and aluminium on the outside - which, when burned together, was essentially "thermite". That stuff is hard to set on fire, but once it gets started it's horrifically energetic - it's what the Germans were using as incendiary bombs...so they REALLY should have known better! Given the rapidly increasing cost (and scarcity) of helium - airships may soon have to go back to using hydrogen. But it could easily be made safe with modern technology to monitor (and purge) oxygen from inside the hydrogen cells, adequate lightning protection...and an "anything-except-freaking-thermite!!" skin. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:19, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Regarding the Hindenburg's rapid burning, the MythBusters did some tests that attempted to figure out what actually happened. Their tests indicated that the composition of the skin was indeed a factor (as their test ''without'' the hydrogen accelerated partway through the burn, indicating that doping was indeed having a thermite reaction), but that hydrogen was still the major factor in the speed of the burn (their model burned twice as fast with the hydrogen added than without). Conclusion: using a different paint composition may help but I'm not so certain that hydrogen can really be considered "safe". [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 13:33, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

::: See also [https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/hindenburg-minimyth Hindenburg MiniMyth video]. They should have done a third test with hydrogen and some other doping on the skin, in order to show what component of the burn time was due to the thermite reaction. With the two tests they did, they only showed that hydrogen was a significant factor. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:19, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

:::: They ''sort'' of did, in that they burned hydrogen plus a thermite mix (it took half the time of the hydrogen plus historical doping), but my guess is that you meant a doping mixture which definitely ''wouldn't'' become thermite. And I would have appreciated it had they followed that thread. The reason they didn't do that is because of the exact wording of the myth in question--that the Hindenburg burned ''solely'' because of the doping, and that hydrogen had no effect. Which, they showed, wasn't the case; the hydrogen definitely accelerated the burn. [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 02:26, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

I feel like the references to the Secretary series are in error. Ron Paul *does* have a blimp in those comics, so it's tangentially related, but the secretary series is very much not the alien visitors series.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.99|162.158.187.99]] 12:34, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

As for biplanes - because they have ample wing area, they typically have shorter wing-spans than monoplanes. This reduces the moment of angular inertia and that allows them to turn more rapidly...and that is why they are used in aerobatics and crop spraying. The infamous "Red Baron" of WWI flew a Fokker triplane which enhanced the ability to maneuver even more - although at the expense of even more drag. However, high drag also means you can slow down much more rapidly - which allowed more interesting tactical possibilities. Biplanes were VERY useful in the era in which they were flown. They didn't vanish because they were a terrible technology - but because the nature of arial warfare changed. Modern fighter aircraft try to get the best of both worlds by having wings with a greater chord length - providing more lift area without messing up roll/yaw angular inertia. However, this does worsen longitudinal angular inertia - which is relatively unimportant in a modern "dogfight" where the only real requirement is to be able to turn tightly enough for a missile firing solution. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

=== LINCOS ===
How do people feel about a discussion of the limitations of Freudenthal's (1960) LINCOS: ''Lingua Cosmica,'' as featured in the Jodie Foster film ''Contact''?[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincos_%28artificial_language%29] In particular, what limitations arise when higher-level communications must be based on screenplays? For example, would a society continually producing movies depicting themselves as violent agressive galactic conquers be eligible for first contact? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.115|172.69.35.115]] 18:46, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Wait, the alien is using holography. [[User:Lamda05|Lamda05]] ([[User talk:Lamda05|talk]]) 06:19, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

== Exobiology ==

It is unclear whether they don't realize that lead is toxic to themselves, or whether they have been giving it to other species without thinking of the possibility that it could be toxic to other exobiologies. Please stop editing this out. You aren't "making things clearer" when you edit out this distinction. Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.6|172.70.130.6]] 13:05, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-07-28T13:33:15Z

MarsJenkar: MythBusters result.

Sorry for intruding, I am just delighted that I am early [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.161|162.158.166.161]] 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

"Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it." This line might (inadvertently?) reference the common alien-movie fail in which massive spacecraft hover at low altitude over human populations without obliterating them and their infrastructure. It might also be bathroom humor. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.134|172.68.129.134]] 15:56, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:I'm with the original explanation. The aliens just don't seem very advanced, so they're worried that the spaceships are poorly constructed and pieces might fall off, or the entire ship might just drop. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:19, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
:You are probably correct with respect to Randall's intentions. The situation, though, brings to my mind Turtledove's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series Worldwar series], in which "The Race" had very advanced technology (hence little risk of spaceships crashing on their own) but had, at least initially, a poor opinion about human technologies and their advancement. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:31, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

::Thanks for the reference, 172.68.129.132! I’m enjoying listening to the series for free through my public library account using Hoopla. Apparently the original e-books had atrocious copy editing so I get to miss out on that visual horror. :-). [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 18:02, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Also reminds me of that StarTrek (NextGen) episode where a very low intelligence species has advanced space travel that it obtains by stealing it from other species. (Sorry - I forget the episode title). [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
:::That was Season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.38|172.70.117.38]] 17:28, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

To the individual who made a callback to Capri Sun--bless you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.83|172.70.130.83]] 19:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

:Need a category for this recurring comic: [[:Category:Alien Visitors]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.65|172.69.35.65]] 00:33, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

Doesn’t the United States still add lead to gasoline used for piston airplane engines, and also high octane race car fuel?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.55|162.158.62.55]] 03:28, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
:Very limited niche use remains, phased out of major applications. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
::Does 167,000 aircraft in the USA (plus more around the world) count as “limited niche use”? Assuming a super conservative estimate of an average of only 100 hours/year/airframe and an equally conservative burn rate of 10 gal/hr, that’s 167 million gallons of leaded gasoline burned per year. See https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754 for more info on the FAA’s continuing refusal to remove lead from avgas.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.44|172.70.110.44]] 04:46, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
:::Considering the 276 million cars in the USA and their yearly consumption of 123.5 billion gallons of fuel, that is pretty much limited niche use, yes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.232|162.158.94.232]] 14:40, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
::::Classic example of a logical fallacy. To paraphrase your assertion: “Because the market for 100LL fuel for piston aircraft is 0.1% the size as the unleaded gasoline market for automobiles, 100LL fuel for piston aircraft is a niche market” but you are comparing apples to bacon by comparing automotive unleaded gasoline to 100LL aviation fuel. Status as “niche” or “not niche” is based on sales of leaded fuel; cars run on unleaded gasoline, diesel, or electricity, and are thus irrelevant to the discussion. I mean, why not mention how much jet-A is burned by turbine aircraft? Answer: because it’s irrelevant to the discussion. Cars burning unleaded fuel is irrelevant to the discussion of leaded gasoline. In terms of absolute quantities, piston aircraft burn far more 100LL than anything else, and lead from those aircraft remains a significant source of lead pollution.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.48|172.70.114.48]] 03:59, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

::Although lead was originally added to gas in order to improve efficiency, it was retained in order to reduce refining expense. After refining crude oil, you get gasoline at a variety of octanes. The different octanes are blended to produce what you pay for (e.g. 87 for regular, 93 for premium). Lead is an octane-boosting additive, allowing manufacturers to ship sub-standard gas (that is a little below the rated octane), adding lead to bring it up to standard. Without lead, you need to blend in a higher proportion of higher-octane gas in order to get the required octane rating. Which is why, back when lead was being phased out, unleaded gas cost more than leaded. The effect of lead reducing engine knock is simply a result of the gas having a higher octane rating. High octane gas without lead (e.g. premium) has the same effect.

::Another interesting side point is that computer-controlled refineries have effectively reduced the quality of gas you get at the pump. There are serious legal penalties for selling gas with an octane rating below what is labeled, but no penalties for being higher. Back when refineries were not computer controlled, they were not precise enough to produce the exact blend required, so they would always err a little higher (e.g. selling 88 octane labeled as 87). But with modern systems, they can sell exactly what's labeled, so consumers don't get any free bonus octane anymore. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 16:22, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Leaded gasoline doesn't just provide anti-knock capability, in older cars, the lead gradually accumulates around the valve seats and serves to soften the impact of the valve as it snaps shut. Modern cars have both anti-knock sensors and hardened valve seats - so you don't need it anymore. My 1960 Mini needs leaded gas because of the valve-seat issue - and as a result I have to use a lead additive for about one in five tankfuls of gas. Fortunately, that car is mostly a "garage queen" and is only driven to local car shows and such. I atone for this by driving a Tesla as my main vehicle! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
::: Why can't you use tetraethylbismuth whose metal is soft and low melting like lead but much less toxic? [[User:Oxygen|Oxygen]] ([[User talk:Oxygen|talk]]) 18:52, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

An honorary mention might be made to {{w|Thomas Midgley Jr.}}, who helped to make both TEL and CFCs widely used. (Though didn't get the chance to widely promote his bed-lift before it also proved unsafe.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 08:52, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the Hindenburg exploded. It just burned.

One would question how benevolent these aliens are. They only offer inferior technology (pyramids, biplanes) which they could have ''trivially'' seen not to be useful, or they offer harmful technology like lead-based gasoline and inefficient fruit-presses. On the other hand they do not offer the one tech we don't have, e.g. still-standing flying saucers. Thus one may question their real motives... <Insert reference to V>. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:53, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
: Or maybe they're trying to ensure we have a well rounded tech growth rather than beelining to spaceflight. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 21:35, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

: For sure the Hindenburg didn't explode - and there is evidence that much of the problem wasn't the loss of the hydrogen anyway since hydrogen flames ascend UPWARDS away from the passenger gondola - and hydrogen burns at a relatively low temperature. A bigger problem was that the skin of the airship was sprayed with iron oxide on the inside and aluminium on the outside - which, when burned together, was essentially "thermite". That stuff is hard to set on fire, but once it gets started it's horrifically energetic - it's what the Germans were using as incendiary bombs...so they REALLY should have known better! Given the rapidly increasing cost (and scarcity) of helium - airships may soon have to go back to using hydrogen. But it could easily be made safe with modern technology to monitor (and purge) oxygen from inside the hydrogen cells, adequate lightning protection...and an "anything-except-freaking-thermite!!" skin. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:19, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

:: Regarding the Hindenburg's rapid burning, the MythBusters did some tests that attempted to figure out what actually happened. Their tests indicated that the composition of the skin was indeed a factor (as their test ''without'' the hydrogen accelerated partway through the burn, indicating that doping was indeed having a thermite reaction), but that hydrogen was still the major factor in the speed of the burn (their model burned twice as fast with the hydrogen added than without). Conclusion: using a different paint composition may help but I'm not so certain that hydrogen can really be considered "safe". [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 13:33, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

I feel like the references to the Secretary series are in error. Ron Paul *does* have a blimp in those comics, so it's tangentially related, but the secretary series is very much not the alien visitors series.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.99|162.158.187.99]] 12:34, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

As for biplanes - because they have ample wing area, they typically have shorter wing-spans than monoplanes. This reduces the moment of angular inertia and that allows them to turn more rapidly...and that is why they are used in aerobatics and crop spraying. The infamous "Red Baron" of WWI flew a Fokker triplane which enhanced the ability to maneuver even more - although at the expense of even more drag. However, high drag also means you can slow down much more rapidly - which allowed more interesting tactical possibilities. Biplanes were VERY useful in the era in which they were flown. They didn't vanish because they were a terrible technology - but because the nature of arial warfare changed. Modern fighter aircraft try to get the best of both worlds by having wings with a greater chord length - providing more lift area without messing up roll/yaw angular inertia. However, this does worsen longitudinal angular inertia - which is relatively unimportant in a modern "dogfight" where the only real requirement is to be able to turn tightly enough for a missile firing solution. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

=== LINCOS ===
How do people feel about a discussion of the limitations of Freudenthal's (1960) LINCOS: ''Lingua Cosmica,'' as featured in the Jodie Foster film ''Contact''?[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincos_%28artificial_language%29] In particular, what limitations arise when higher-level communications must be based on screenplays? For example, would a society continually producing movies depicting themselves as violent agressive galactic conquers be eligible for first contact? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.115|172.69.35.115]] 18:46, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Wait, the alien is using holography. [[User:Lamda05|Lamda05]] ([[User talk:Lamda05|talk]]) 06:19, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

== Exobiology ==

It is unclear whether they don't realize that lead is toxic to themselves, or whether they have been giving it to other species without thinking of the possibility that it could be toxic to other exobiologies. Please stop editing this out. You aren't "making things clearer" when you edit out this distinction. Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.6|172.70.130.6]] 13:05, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

2380: Election Impact Score Sheet

2020-12-17T05:20:18Z

MarsJenkar: /* Table */ Spelling correction.

{{comic
| number = 2380
| date = November 2, 2020
| title = Election Impact Score Sheet
| image = election_impact_score_sheet.png
| titletext = You might think most people you know are reliable voters, or that your nudge won't convince them, and you will usually be right. But some small but significant percentage of the time, you'll be wrong, and that's why this works.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic was published the day before {{w|Election day in the United States}} (November 3, 2020), which features a contentious {{w|2020 United States presidential election|presidential election}} between the incumbent, President {{w|Donald Trump}}, and the challenger, former Vice President {{w|Joe Biden}}. The United States does not elect presidents by popular vote, but instead uses an {{w|United States Electoral College|electoral college}} system, with each state getting a predetermined number of electoral votes, and a majority of electoral votes needed to win an election. The previous presidential election in 2016, which involved Trump and {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, was won by Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points, but won the electoral vote 304-227 (270 was needed to win the election).

Electoral college votes are distributed based on the number of congressional representatives of each state, with the most populous state, California, receiving 55 votes, and the least populous states which are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming receiving 3 votes each, along with the District of Columbia, which as of the writing of this comic was not a state. Because the United States Congress has two legislative houses, with only one (the House of Representatives) apportioning representatives to the states based on their percentage of the US population and the other (the Senate) allocating two senators to every state regardless of population, smaller states have a higher ratio of electoral college votes to population than larger states do.

Additionally, most states (all but Nebraska and Maine) give all of their electoral college votes to whoever earns the most votes in their state. This means that a small change in the percentage of voters who favor one party's candidate over another within a state doesn't make a difference on the final outcome unless that change tips the scales between the two candidates. Therefore, it's easy to predict the final electoral college votes of many states where one party has a clear lead. Other states, including some of the ones listed by Randall, are considered "{{w|swing state}}s", as they are competitive to both of the two major parties, the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}} and the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}.

Together, these factors make voting in some states - "swing states" with smaller populations - much more likely to influence the outcome of the election than others. Randall in this comic is encouraging his readers to "{{w|get out the vote}}" and encourage voting among their friends and family who live in these nineteen states which are most likely to affect the outcome of the election. The rest of the 31 states (and, presumably, the District of Columbia) are grouped under the "all other states" bucket, presumably as their election outcome is "safely" for Biden or Trump.

Per many analysts, the state of {{w|Pennsylvania}} is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. This is why Pennsylvania is weighted the most heavily in Randall's comic.

Of course, just because a state may be a clear win for one party does not mean the votes of anyone who votes for the other party are wasted. A higher percentage of voters voting for the losing candidate sends a signal that the state is more competitive than assumed, which forces representatives to compromise and could make future voters more likely to show up because they believe their vote is more likely to matter. Additionally, many "down-ballot" races, like races for governorships, US Congress, state legislatures, and county governments, may be more competitive than the presidential race, and may have just as much or more impact on most people's lives. Randall accounts for some of these local races in deciding how to rank the states on the scoresheet.

The text at the bottom says to post your scoresheet with ''#Hashtag''. The "#" symbol (pronounced "hash") denotes a {{w|hashtag}} on platforms like Twitter, used to tag one's post as relating to the topic named following the symbol. However, this hashtag (said out-loud as "Hashtag Hashtag") would relate a post to the topic of hashtags rather than elections or votes, and so for the scoresheet is nonsensical and doesn't describe anything useful. It also refers to Nate Silver's famous election forecast model at {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. Randall closes by urging people to contact Nate Silver to tell him to adjust his model to account for the added votes they have caused, but as the form doesn't indicate which candidate the filler has voted for or plans to vote for, never mind the people contacted, there's no way for him to know what sort of update to make. Perhaps the flurry of posts bearing the hashtag "#Hashtag" and indicating an effort to increase civic engagement will be a heartwarming surprise on a day that will probably be very busy and stressful for him.

The title text explains that even if one thinks that their family and friends always vote, or that their reminder to vote won't work, they should do so anyway because of the chance they may be wrong.

As shown in previous comics ([[1756: I'm With Her]] and others), Randall was a supporter of 2016 candidate {{w|Hillary Clinton}} (who ran against Trump), but this announcement should be equally applicable to supporters of either of the two main candidates in the current presidential race.

The comic includes a link for a printable version: https://xkcd.com/2380/election_impact_score_sheet.pdf

===Table===
{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Bonus
! Electoral votes
! Explanation
! Actual Effect
|-
|Pennsylvania
|x5
|20
|Pennsylvania is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. Pre-election polling showed Biden leading by 3 points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Maine
|rowspan="3"|x4
|4
|Maine is worth 4 electoral votes, but awards 2 based on the statewide popular vote and 1 vote each for the winners of its 2 congressional districts.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state and the first congressional district; President Trump won the second.
|-
|Arizona
|11
|Arizona is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year, with Joe Biden leading by 2 percentage points in pre-election polling. Additionally, polls predicted a high likelihood of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to Democrats.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
Challenger Kelly (D) defeated Senator McSally (R).
|-
|Nevada
|6
|Nevada has historically been considered a "bellwether" state, with a similar distribution of voters to the nation as a whole. The state went to Clinton in 2016, reflecting the popular vote, while the Electoral College went to Trump.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Alaska
|rowspan="3"|x3
|3
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Montana
|3
|Polls showed a possibility of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to the Democrats.
|Senator Daines (R) defeated challenger Bullock (D).
|-
|New Mexico
|5
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Wisconsin
|rowspan="7"|x2
|10
|Wisconsin was surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as pre-election polling had him trailing by 6-7 percentage points. Polling for the 2020 election favored Biden by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Minnesota
|10
|Minnesota was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but by a close margin of 1.5 percentage points. Polling for 2020 has Biden favored by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Iowa
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|North Carolina
|15
|North Carolina is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|New Hampshire
|4
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Georgia
|16
|Georgia is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year. Additionally, it has two Senate seats up for grabs in very close races (one the normal one for the year, the other a special election to fill a vacancy).
|Former Vice President Biden won the state. Both Senate races were undecided and will head to runoff elections. These runoff elections were mentioned in the title text of [[2382: Ballot Tracker Tracker]].
|-
|Nebraska
|5
|Like Maine, Nebraska splits up its votes, awarding 2 votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and 1 each for the winners of its 3 congressional districts.
|President Trump won the state and the first and third congressional districts; former Vice President Biden won the second.
|-
|Michigan
|rowspan="5"|x1
|16
|Michigan was also surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as he was also trailing in pre-election polling. Biden has a 6 point lead in polling in 2020.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Florida
|29
|With 29 electoral votes, Florida has the 3rd most electoral votes to be distributed. It is also typically a swing state and determines the winner of an election.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Kansas
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Mississippi
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Colorado
|9
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|All other states
|x1/2
|''varies''
|Randall considers other states as less important than the above nineteen in influencing the outcome of the presidential election.
|See below
|}

As for all other states: President Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; while former Vice President won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.

==Transcript==
<big>Do you know anyone in Arizona?</big>

Research shows that reminders from friends and family to vote have a bigger effect on turnout than anything campaigns do.

One of the best ways you can help is to scroll through your contacts (or use apps like VoteWithMe) to find people you can check in with to see if they plan to vote or need help doing it.

This chart lets you tally the effect of your reminders on the outcome based on who you've contacted and where they live.

<big>Election impact score sheet</big>

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
|
|x5
|
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
|
|x4
|
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
|
|x3
|
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
|
|x2
|
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
|
|x½
|
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Multiplier based on 538 presidential vote impact, plus points for senate and local elections

''In smaller text, to the right of the main score sheet, a duplicate of the score sheet with red tally marks and points is shown''

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
| (2 tally marks)
|x5
| 10
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
| (1 tally mark)
|x4
| 4
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
| (1 tally mark)
|x3
| 3
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
| (3 tally marks)
|x2
| 6
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
| (6 tally marks)
|x½
| 3
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|26
|}

''Followed by an arrow, pointing to the "Your election impact" total box in the main table, is this text''

Based on turnout experiments, 10 points on this scale has roughly as much effect on the outcome as one average vote. For every 10 points you tally, it's as if you voted again!

''Below the main score sheet table''

 [Click for printable version]

Share a pic of your score sheet with ''#Hashtag'', and be sure to send a copy to Nate Silver to let him know to include those extra votes in his model!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2380: Election Impact Score Sheet

2020-11-15T03:21:51Z

MarsJenkar: /* Table */ With more results in, the races have been called in most states. Georgia is currently undergoing a recount, so I'm not calling that one just yet.

{{comic
| number = 2380
| date = November 2, 2020
| title = Election Impact Score Sheet
| image = election_impact_score_sheet.png
| titletext = You might think most people you know are reliable voters, or that your nudge won't convince them, and you will usually be right. But some small but significant percentage of the time, you'll be wrong, and that's why this works.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEONE NOT IN ARIZONA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was published the day before {{w|Election day in the United States}} (November 3, 2020), which features a contentious {{w|2020 United States presidential election|presidential election}} between the incumbent, President {{w|Donald Trump}}, and the challenger, former Vice President {{w|Joe Biden}}. The United States does not elect presidents by popular vote, but instead uses an {{w|United States Electoral College|electoral college}} system, with each state getting a predetermined number of electoral votes, and a majority of electoral votes needed to win an election. The previous presidential election in 2016, which involved Trump and {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, was won by Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points, but won the electoral vote 304-227 (270 was needed to win the election).

Electoral college votes are distributed based on the number of congressional representatives of each state, with the most populous state, California, receiving 55 votes, and the least populous states which are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming receiving 3 votes each, along with the District of Columbia, which as of the writing of this comic was not a state. Because the United States Congress has two legislative houses, with only one (the House of Representatives) apportioning representatives to the states based on their percentage of the US population and the other (the Senate) allocating two senators to every state regardless of population, smaller states have a higher ratio of electoral college votes to population than larger states do.

Additionally, most states (all but Nebraska and Maine) give all of their electoral college votes to whoever earns the most votes in their state. This means that a small change in the percentage of voters who favor one party's candidate over another within a state doesn't make a difference on the final outcome unless that change tips the scales between the two candidates. Therefore, it's easy to predict the final electoral college votes of many states where one party has a clear lead. Other states, including some of the ones listed by Randall, are considered "{{w|swing state}}s", as they are competitive to both of the two major parties, the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}} and the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}.

Together, these factors make voting in some states - "swing states" with smaller populations - much more likely to influence the outcome of the election than others. Randall in this comic is encouraging his readers to "{{w|get out the vote}}" and encourage voting among their friends and family who live in these nineteen states which are most likely to affect the outcome of the election. The rest of the 31 states (and, presumably, the District of Columbia) are grouped under the "all other states" bucket, presumably as their election outcome is "safely" for Biden or Trump.

Per many analysts, the state of {{w|Pennsylvania}} is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. This is why Pennsylvania is weighted the most heavily in Randall's comic.

Of course, just because a state may be a clear win for one party does not mean the votes of anyone who votes for the other party are wasted. A higher percentage of voters voting for the losing candidate sends a signal that the state is more competitive than assumed, which forces representatives to compromise and could make future voters more likely to show up because they believe their vote is more likely to matter. Additionally, many "down-ballot" races, like races for governorships, US Congress, state legislatures, and county governments, may be more competitive than the presidential race, and may have just as much or more impact on most people's lives. Randall accounts for some of these local races in deciding how to rank the states on the scoresheet.

The text at the bottom says to post your scoresheet with ''#Hashtag''. The "#" symbol (pronounced "hash") denotes a {{w|hashtag}} on platforms like Twitter, used to tag one's post as relating to the topic named following the symbol. However, this hashtag (said out-loud as "Hashtag Hashtag") would relate a post to the topic of hashtags rather than elections or votes, and so for the scoresheet is nonsensical and doesn't describe anything useful. It also refers to Nate Silver's famous election forecast model at {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. Randall closes by urging people to contact Nate Silver to tell him to adjust his model to account for the added votes they have caused, but as the form doesn't indicate which candidate the filler has voted for or plans to vote for, never mind the people contacted, there's no way for him to know what sort of update to make. Perhaps the flurry of posts bearing the hashtag "#Hashtag" and indicating an effort to increase civic engagement will be a heartwarming surprise on a day that will probably be very busy and stressful for him.

The title text explains that even if one thinks that their family and friends always vote, or that their reminder to vote won't work, they should do so anyway because of the chance they may be wrong.

As shown in previous comics ([[1756: I'm With Her]] and others), Randall was a supporter of 2016 candidate {{w|Hillary Clinton}} (who ran against Trump), but this announcement should be equally applicable to supporters of either of the two main candidates in the current presidential race.

The comic includes a link for a printable version: https://xkcd.com/2380/election_impact_score_sheet.pdf

===Table===
{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Bonus
! Electoral votes
! Explanation
! Actual Effect
|-
|Pennsylvania
|x5
|20
|Pennsylvania is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. Pre-election polling showed Biden leading by 3 points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Maine
|rowspan="3"|x4
|4
|Maine is worth 4 electoral votes, but awards 2 based on the statewide popular vote and 1 vote each for the winners of its 2 congressional districts.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state and the first congressional district; President Trump won the second.
|-
|Arizona
|11
|Arizona is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year, with Joe Biden leading by 2 percentage points in pre-election polling. Additionally, polls predicted a high likelihood of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to Democrats.
|Former Vide President Biden won the state.
Challenger Kelly (D) defeated Senator McSally (R).
|-
|Nevada
|6
|Nevada has historically been considered a "bellwether" state, with a similar distribution of voters to the nation as a whole. The state went to Clinton in 2016, reflecting the popular vote, while the Electoral College went to Trump.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|
|-
|Alaska
|rowspan="3"|x3
|3
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Montana
|3
|Polls showed a possibility of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to the Democrats.
|Senator Daines (R) defeated challenger Bullock (D).
|-
|New Mexico
|5
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Wisconsin
|rowspan="7"|x2
|10
|Wisconsin was surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as pre-election polling had him trailing by 6-7 percentage points. Polling for the 2020 election favored Biden by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden is the apparent winner.
|-
|Minnesota
|10
|Minnesota was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but by a close margin of 1.5 percentage points. Polling for 2020 has Biden favored by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Iowa
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|North Carolina
|15
|North Carolina is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|New Hampshire
|4
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Georgia
|16
|Georgia is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year. Additionally, it has two Senate seats up for grabs in very close races (one the normal one for the year, the other a special election to fill a vacancy).
|
|-
|Nebraska
|5
|Like Maine, Nebraska splits up its votes, awarding 2 votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and 1 each for the winners of its 3 congressional districts.
|President Trump won the state and the first and third congressional districts; former Vice President Biden won the second.
|-
|Michigan
|rowspan="5"|x1
|16
|Michigan was also surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as he was also trailing in pre-election polling. Biden has a 6 point lead in polling in 2020.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Florida
|29
|With 29 electoral votes, Florida has the 3rd most electoral votes to be distributed. It is also typically a swing state and determines the winner of an election.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Kansas
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Mississippi
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Colorado
|9
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|All other states
|x1/2
|''varies''
|Randall considers other states as less important than the above nineteen in influencing the outcome of the presidential election.
|See below
|}

As for all other states: President Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; while former Vice President won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.

==Transcript==
<big>Do you know anyone in Arizona?</big>

Research shows that reminders from friends and family to vote have a bigger effect on turnout than anything campaigns do.

One of the best ways you can help is to scroll through your contacts (or use apps like VoteWithMe) to find people you can check in with to see if they plan to vote or need help doing it.

This chart lets you tally the effect of your reminders on the outcome based on who you've contacted and where they live.

<big>Election impact score sheet</big>

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
|
|x5
|
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
|
|x4
|
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
|
|x3
|
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
|
|x2
|
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
|
|x½
|
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Multiplier based on 538 presidential vote impact, plus points for senate and local elections

''In smaller text, to the right of the main score sheet, a duplicate of the score sheet with red tally marks and points is shown''

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
| (2 tally marks)
|x5
| 10
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
| (1 tally mark)
|x4
| 4
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
| (1 tally mark)
|x3
| 3
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
| (3 tally marks)
|x2
| 6
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
| (6 tally marks)
|x½
| 3
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|26
|}

''Followed by an arrow, pointing to the "Your election impact" total box in the main table, is this text''

Based on turnout experiments, 10 points on this scale has roughly as much effect on the outcome as one average vote. For every 10 points you tally, it's as if you voted again!

''Below the main score sheet table''

 [Click for printable version]

Share a pic of your score sheet with ''#Hashtag'', and be sure to send a copy to Nate Silver to let him know to include those extra votes in his model!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2380: Election Impact Score Sheet

2020-11-09T18:20:24Z

MarsJenkar: /* Table */ Added info for Georgia.

{{comic
| number = 2380
| date = November 2, 2020
| title = Election Impact Score Sheet
| image = election_impact_score_sheet.png
| titletext = You might think most people you know are reliable voters, or that your nudge won't convince them, and you will usually be right. But some small but significant percentage of the time, you'll be wrong, and that's why this works.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEONE NOT IN ARIZONA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was published the day before {{w|Election day in the United States}} (November 3, 2020), which features a contentious {{w|2020 United States presidential election|presidential election}} between the incumbent, President {{w|Donald Trump}}, and the challenger, former Vice President {{w|Joe Biden}}. The United States does not elect presidents by popular vote, but instead uses an {{w|United States Electoral College|electoral college}} system, with each state getting a predetermined number of electoral votes, and a majority of electoral votes needed to win an election. The previous presidential election in 2016, which involved Trump and {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, was won by Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points, but won the electoral vote 304-227 (270 was needed to win the election).

Electoral college votes are distributed based on the number of congressional representatives of each state, with the most populous state, California, receiving 55 votes, and the least populous states which are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming receiving 3 votes each, along with the District of Columbia, which as of the writing of this comic was not a state. Because the United States Congress has two legislative houses, with only one (the House of Representatives) apportioning representatives to the states based on their percentage of the US population and the other (the Senate) allocating two senators to every state regardless of population, smaller states have a higher ratio of electoral college votes to population than larger states do.

Additionally, most states (all but Nebraska and Maine) give all of their electoral college votes to whoever earns the most votes in their state. This means that a small change in the percentage of voters who favor one party's candidate over another within a state doesn't make a difference on the final outcome unless that change tips the scales between the two candidates. Therefore, it's easy to predict the final electoral college votes of many states where one party has a clear lead. Other states, including some of the ones listed by Randall, are considered "{{w|swing state}}s", as they are competitive to both of the two major parties, the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}} and the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}.

Together, these factors make voting in some states - "swing states" with smaller populations - much more likely to influence the outcome of the election than others. Randall in this comic is encouraging his readers to "{{w|get out the vote}}" and encourage voting among their friends and family who live in these nineteen states which are most likely to affect the outcome of the election. The rest of the 31 states (and, presumably, the District of Columbia) are grouped under the "all other states" bucket, presumably as their election outcome is "safely" for Biden or Trump.

Per many analysts, the state of {{w|Pennsylvania}} is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. This is why Pennsylvania is weighted the most heavily in Randall's comic.

Of course, just because a state may be a clear win for one party does not mean the votes of anyone who votes for the other party are wasted. A higher percentage of voters voting for the losing candidate sends a signal that the state is more competitive than assumed, which forces representatives to compromise and could make future voters more likely to show up because they believe their vote is more likely to matter. Additionally, many "down-ballot" races, like races for governorships, US Congress, state legislatures, and county governments, may be more competitive than the presidential race, and may have just as much or more impact on most people's lives. Randall accounts for some of these local races in deciding how to rank the states on the scoresheet.

The text at the bottom says to post your scoresheet with ''#Hashtag''. The "#" symbol (pronounced "hash") denotes a {{w|hashtag}} on platforms like Twitter, used to tag one's post as relating to the topic named following the symbol. However, this hashtag (said out-loud as "Hashtag Hashtag") would relate a post to the topic of hashtags rather than elections or votes, and so for the scoresheet is nonsensical and doesn't describe anything useful. It also refers to Nate Silver's famous election forecast model at {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. Randall closes by urging people to contact Nate Silver to tell him to adjust his model to account for the added votes they have caused, but as the form doesn't indicate which candidate the filler has voted for or plans to vote for, never mind the people contacted, there's no way for him to know what sort of update to make. Perhaps the flurry of posts bearing the hashtag "#Hashtag" and indicating an effort to increase civic engagement will be a heartwarming surprise on a day that will probably be very busy and stressful for him.

The title text explains that even if one thinks that their family and friends always vote, or that their reminder to vote won't work, they should do so anyway because of the chance they may be wrong.

As shown in previous comics ([[1756: I'm With Her]] and others), Randall was a supporter of 2016 candidate {{w|Hillary Clinton}} (who ran against Trump), but this announcement should be equally applicable to supporters of either of the two main candidates in the current presidential race.

The comic includes a link for a printable version: https://xkcd.com/2380/election_impact_score_sheet.pdf

===Table===
{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Bonus
! Electoral votes
! Explanation
! Actual Effect
|-
|Pennsylvania
|x5
|20
|Pennsylvania is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. Pre-election polling showed Biden leading by 3 points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Maine
|rowspan="3"|x4
|4
|Maine is worth 4 electoral votes, but awards 2 based on the statewide popular vote and 1 vote each for the winners of its 2 congressional districts.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state and the first congressional district; President Trump won the second.
|-
|Arizona
|11
|Arizona is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year, with Joe Biden leading by 2 percentage points in pre-election polling. Additionally, polls predicted a high likelihood of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to Democrats.
|Challenger Kelly (D) defeated Senator McSally (R).
|-
|Nevada
|6
|Nevada has historically been considered a "bellwether" state, with a similar distribution of voters to the nation as a whole. The state went to Clinton in 2016, reflecting the popular vote, while the Electoral College went to Trump.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|
|-
|Alaska
|rowspan="3"|x3
|3
|
|
|-
|Montana
|3
|Polls showed a possibility of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to the Democrats.
|Senator Daines (R) defeated challenger Bullock (D).
|-
|New Mexico
|5
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Wisconsin
|rowspan="7"|x2
|10
|Wisconsin was surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as pre-election polling had him trailing by 6-7 percentage points. Polling for the 2020 election favored Biden by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden is the apparent winner.
|-
|Minnesota
|10
|Minnesota was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but by a close margin of 1.5 percentage points. Polling for 2020 has Biden favored by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Iowa
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|North Carolina
|15
|North Carolina is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|
|-
|New Hampshire
|4
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Georgia
|16
|Georgia is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year. Additionally, it has two Senate seats up for grabs in very close races (one the normal one for the year, the other a special election to fill a vacancy).
|
|-
|Nebraska
|5
|Like Maine, Nebraska splits up its votes, awarding 2 votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and 1 each for the winners of its 3 congressional districts.
|President Trump won the state and the first and third congressional districts; former Vice President Biden won the second.
|-
|Michigan
|rowspan="5"|x1
|16
|Michigan was also surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as he was also trailing in pre-election polling. Biden has a 6 point lead in polling in 2020.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Florida
|29
|With 29 electoral votes, Florida has the 3rd most electoral votes to be distributed. It is also typically a swing state and determines the winner of an election.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Kansas
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Mississippi
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Colorado
|9
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|All other states
|x1/2
|''varies''
|Randall considers other states as less important than the above nineteen in influencing the outcome of the presidential election.
|See below
|}

As for all other states: President Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; while former Vice President won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.

==Transcript==
<big>Do you know anyone in Arizona?</big>

Research shows that reminders from friends and family to vote have a bigger effect on turnout than anything campaigns do.

One of the best ways you can help is to scroll through your contacts (or use apps like VoteWithMe) to find people you can check in with to see if they plan to vote or need help doing it.

This chart lets you tally the effect of your reminders on the outcome based on who you've contacted and where they live.

<big>Election impact score sheet</big>

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
|
|x5
|
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
|
|x4
|
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
|
|x3
|
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
|
|x2
|
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
|
|x½
|
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Multiplier based on 538 presidential vote impact, plus points for senate and local elections

''In smaller text, to the right of the main score sheet, a duplicate of the score sheet with red tally marks and points is shown''

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
| (2 tally marks)
|x5
| 10
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
| (1 tally mark)
|x4
| 4
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
| (1 tally mark)
|x3
| 3
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
| (3 tally marks)
|x2
| 6
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
| (6 tally marks)
|x½
| 3
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|26
|}

''Followed by an arrow, pointing to the "Your election impact" total box in the main table, is this text''

Based on turnout experiments, 10 points on this scale has roughly as much effect on the outcome as one average vote. For every 10 points you tally, it's as if you voted again!

''Below the main score sheet table''

 [Click for printable version]

Share a pic of your score sheet with ''#Hashtag'', and be sure to send a copy to Nate Silver to let him know to include those extra votes in his model!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2380: Election Impact Score Sheet

2020-11-09T18:13:22Z

MarsJenkar: /* Table */ Corrected my insertion regarding Nevada.

{{comic
| number = 2380
| date = November 2, 2020
| title = Election Impact Score Sheet
| image = election_impact_score_sheet.png
| titletext = You might think most people you know are reliable voters, or that your nudge won't convince them, and you will usually be right. But some small but significant percentage of the time, you'll be wrong, and that's why this works.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEONE NOT IN ARIZONA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was published the day before {{w|Election day in the United States}} (November 3, 2020), which features a contentious {{w|2020 United States presidential election|presidential election}} between the incumbent, President {{w|Donald Trump}}, and the challenger, former Vice President {{w|Joe Biden}}. The United States does not elect presidents by popular vote, but instead uses an {{w|United States Electoral College|electoral college}} system, with each state getting a predetermined number of electoral votes, and a majority of electoral votes needed to win an election. The previous presidential election in 2016, which involved Trump and {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, was won by Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points, but won the electoral vote 304-227 (270 was needed to win the election).

Electoral college votes are distributed based on the number of congressional representatives of each state, with the most populous state, California, receiving 55 votes, and the least populous states which are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming receiving 3 votes each, along with the District of Columbia, which as of the writing of this comic was not a state. Because the United States Congress has two legislative houses, with only one (the House of Representatives) apportioning representatives to the states based on their percentage of the US population and the other (the Senate) allocating two senators to every state regardless of population, smaller states have a higher ratio of electoral college votes to population than larger states do.

Additionally, most states (all but Nebraska and Maine) give all of their electoral college votes to whoever earns the most votes in their state. This means that a small change in the percentage of voters who favor one party's candidate over another within a state doesn't make a difference on the final outcome unless that change tips the scales between the two candidates. Therefore, it's easy to predict the final electoral college votes of many states where one party has a clear lead. Other states, including some of the ones listed by Randall, are considered "{{w|swing state}}s", as they are competitive to both of the two major parties, the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}} and the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}.

Together, these factors make voting in some states - "swing states" with smaller populations - much more likely to influence the outcome of the election than others. Randall in this comic is encouraging his readers to "{{w|get out the vote}}" and encourage voting among their friends and family who live in these nineteen states which are most likely to affect the outcome of the election. The rest of the 31 states (and, presumably, the District of Columbia) are grouped under the "all other states" bucket, presumably as their election outcome is "safely" for Biden or Trump.

Per many analysts, the state of {{w|Pennsylvania}} is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. This is why Pennsylvania is weighted the most heavily in Randall's comic.

Of course, just because a state may be a clear win for one party does not mean the votes of anyone who votes for the other party are wasted. A higher percentage of voters voting for the losing candidate sends a signal that the state is more competitive than assumed, which forces representatives to compromise and could make future voters more likely to show up because they believe their vote is more likely to matter. Additionally, many "down-ballot" races, like races for governorships, US Congress, state legislatures, and county governments, may be more competitive than the presidential race, and may have just as much or more impact on most people's lives. Randall accounts for some of these local races in deciding how to rank the states on the scoresheet.

The text at the bottom says to post your scoresheet with ''#Hashtag''. The "#" symbol (pronounced "hash") denotes a {{w|hashtag}} on platforms like Twitter, used to tag one's post as relating to the topic named following the symbol. However, this hashtag (said out-loud as "Hashtag Hashtag") would relate a post to the topic of hashtags rather than elections or votes, and so for the scoresheet is nonsensical and doesn't describe anything useful. It also refers to Nate Silver's famous election forecast model at {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. Randall closes by urging people to contact Nate Silver to tell him to adjust his model to account for the added votes they have caused, but as the form doesn't indicate which candidate the filler has voted for or plans to vote for, never mind the people contacted, there's no way for him to know what sort of update to make. Perhaps the flurry of posts bearing the hashtag "#Hashtag" and indicating an effort to increase civic engagement will be a heartwarming surprise on a day that will probably be very busy and stressful for him.

The title text explains that even if one thinks that their family and friends always vote, or that their reminder to vote won't work, they should do so anyway because of the chance they may be wrong.

As shown in previous comics ([[1756: I'm With Her]] and others), Randall was a supporter of 2016 candidate {{w|Hillary Clinton}} (who ran against Trump), but this announcement should be equally applicable to supporters of either of the two main candidates in the current presidential race.

The comic includes a link for a printable version: https://xkcd.com/2380/election_impact_score_sheet.pdf

===Table===
{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Bonus
! Electoral votes
! Explanation
! Actual Effect
|-
|Pennsylvania
|x5
|20
|Pennsylvania is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. Pre-election polling showed Biden leading by 3 points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Maine
|rowspan="3"|x4
|4
|Maine is worth 4 electoral votes, but awards 2 based on the statewide popular vote and 1 vote each for the winners of its 2 congressional districts.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state and the first congressional district; President Trump won the second.
|-
|Arizona
|11
|Arizona is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year, with Joe Biden leading by 2 percentage points in pre-election polling. Additionally, polls predicted a high likelihood of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to Democrats.
|Challenger Kelly (D) defeated Senator McSally (R).
|-
|Nevada
|6
|Nevada has historically been considered a "bellwether" state, with a similar distribution of voters to the nation as a whole. The state went to Clinton in 2016, reflecting the popular vote, while the Electoral College went to Trump.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|
|-
|Alaska
|rowspan="3"|x3
|3
|
|
|-
|Montana
|3
|Polls showed a possibility of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to the Democrats.
|Senator Daines (R) defeated challenger Bullock (D).
|-
|New Mexico
|5
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Wisconsin
|rowspan="7"|x2
|10
|Wisconsin was surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as pre-election polling had him trailing by 6-7 percentage points. Polling for the 2020 election favored Biden by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden is the apparent winner.
|-
|Minnesota
|10
|Minnesota was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but by a close margin of 1.5 percentage points. Polling for 2020 has Biden favored by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Iowa
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|North Carolina
|15
|North Carolina is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|
|-
|New Hampshire
|4
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Georgia
|16
|Georgia is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|
|-
|Nebraska
|5
|Like Maine, Nebraska splits up its votes, awarding 2 votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and 1 each for the winners of its 3 congressional districts.
|President Trump won the state and the first and third congressional districts; former Vice President Biden won the second.
|-
|Michigan
|rowspan="5"|x1
|16
|Michigan was also surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as he was also trailing in pre-election polling. Biden has a 6 point lead in polling in 2020.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Florida
|29
|With 29 electoral votes, Florida has the 3rd most electoral votes to be distributed. It is also typically a swing state and determines the winner of an election.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Kansas
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Mississippi
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Colorado
|9
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|All other states
|x1/2
|''varies''
|Randall considers other states as less important than the above nineteen in influencing the outcome of the presidential election.
|See below
|}

As for all other states: President Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; while former Vice President won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.

==Transcript==
<big>Do you know anyone in Arizona?</big>

Research shows that reminders from friends and family to vote have a bigger effect on turnout than anything campaigns do.

One of the best ways you can help is to scroll through your contacts (or use apps like VoteWithMe) to find people you can check in with to see if they plan to vote or need help doing it.

This chart lets you tally the effect of your reminders on the outcome based on who you've contacted and where they live.

<big>Election impact score sheet</big>

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
|
|x5
|
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
|
|x4
|
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
|
|x3
|
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
|
|x2
|
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
|
|x½
|
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Multiplier based on 538 presidential vote impact, plus points for senate and local elections

''In smaller text, to the right of the main score sheet, a duplicate of the score sheet with red tally marks and points is shown''

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
| (2 tally marks)
|x5
| 10
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
| (1 tally mark)
|x4
| 4
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
| (1 tally mark)
|x3
| 3
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
| (3 tally marks)
|x2
| 6
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
| (6 tally marks)
|x½
| 3
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|26
|}

''Followed by an arrow, pointing to the "Your election impact" total box in the main table, is this text''

Based on turnout experiments, 10 points on this scale has roughly as much effect on the outcome as one average vote. For every 10 points you tally, it's as if you voted again!

''Below the main score sheet table''

 [Click for printable version]

Share a pic of your score sheet with ''#Hashtag'', and be sure to send a copy to Nate Silver to let him know to include those extra votes in his model!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2380: Election Impact Score Sheet

2020-11-09T18:07:33Z

MarsJenkar: /* Table */ Removed Biden prediction for Arizona, as a number of news sources have not committed on that one.

{{comic
| number = 2380
| date = November 2, 2020
| title = Election Impact Score Sheet
| image = election_impact_score_sheet.png
| titletext = You might think most people you know are reliable voters, or that your nudge won't convince them, and you will usually be right. But some small but significant percentage of the time, you'll be wrong, and that's why this works.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEONE NOT IN ARIZONA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic was published the day before {{w|Election day in the United States}} (November 3, 2020), which features a contentious {{w|2020 United States presidential election|presidential election}} between the incumbent, President {{w|Donald Trump}}, and the challenger, former Vice President {{w|Joe Biden}}. The United States does not elect presidents by popular vote, but instead uses an {{w|United States Electoral College|electoral college}} system, with each state getting a predetermined number of electoral votes, and a majority of electoral votes needed to win an election. The previous presidential election in 2016, which involved Trump and {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, was won by Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points, but won the electoral vote 304-227 (270 was needed to win the election).

Electoral college votes are distributed based on the number of congressional representatives of each state, with the most populous state, California, receiving 55 votes, and the least populous states which are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming receiving 3 votes each, along with the District of Columbia, which as of the writing of this comic was not a state. Because the United States Congress has two legislative houses, with only one (the House of Representatives) apportioning representatives to the states based on their percentage of the US population and the other (the Senate) allocating two senators to every state regardless of population, smaller states have a higher ratio of electoral college votes to population than larger states do.

Additionally, most states (all but Nebraska and Maine) give all of their electoral college votes to whoever earns the most votes in their state. This means that a small change in the percentage of voters who favor one party's candidate over another within a state doesn't make a difference on the final outcome unless that change tips the scales between the two candidates. Therefore, it's easy to predict the final electoral college votes of many states where one party has a clear lead. Other states, including some of the ones listed by Randall, are considered "{{w|swing state}}s", as they are competitive to both of the two major parties, the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party}} and the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party}}.

Together, these factors make voting in some states - "swing states" with smaller populations - much more likely to influence the outcome of the election than others. Randall in this comic is encouraging his readers to "{{w|get out the vote}}" and encourage voting among their friends and family who live in these nineteen states which are most likely to affect the outcome of the election. The rest of the 31 states (and, presumably, the District of Columbia) are grouped under the "all other states" bucket, presumably as their election outcome is "safely" for Biden or Trump.

Per many analysts, the state of {{w|Pennsylvania}} is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. This is why Pennsylvania is weighted the most heavily in Randall's comic.

Of course, just because a state may be a clear win for one party does not mean the votes of anyone who votes for the other party are wasted. A higher percentage of voters voting for the losing candidate sends a signal that the state is more competitive than assumed, which forces representatives to compromise and could make future voters more likely to show up because they believe their vote is more likely to matter. Additionally, many "down-ballot" races, like races for governorships, US Congress, state legislatures, and county governments, may be more competitive than the presidential race, and may have just as much or more impact on most people's lives. Randall accounts for some of these local races in deciding how to rank the states on the scoresheet.

The text at the bottom says to post your scoresheet with ''#Hashtag''. The "#" symbol (pronounced "hash") denotes a {{w|hashtag}} on platforms like Twitter, used to tag one's post as relating to the topic named following the symbol. However, this hashtag (said out-loud as "Hashtag Hashtag") would relate a post to the topic of hashtags rather than elections or votes, and so for the scoresheet is nonsensical and doesn't describe anything useful. It also refers to Nate Silver's famous election forecast model at {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}. Randall closes by urging people to contact Nate Silver to tell him to adjust his model to account for the added votes they have caused, but as the form doesn't indicate which candidate the filler has voted for or plans to vote for, never mind the people contacted, there's no way for him to know what sort of update to make. Perhaps the flurry of posts bearing the hashtag "#Hashtag" and indicating an effort to increase civic engagement will be a heartwarming surprise on a day that will probably be very busy and stressful for him.

The title text explains that even if one thinks that their family and friends always vote, or that their reminder to vote won't work, they should do so anyway because of the chance they may be wrong.

As shown in previous comics ([[1756: I'm With Her]] and others), Randall was a supporter of 2016 candidate {{w|Hillary Clinton}} (who ran against Trump), but this announcement should be equally applicable to supporters of either of the two main candidates in the current presidential race.

The comic includes a link for a printable version: https://xkcd.com/2380/election_impact_score_sheet.pdf

===Table===
{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Bonus
! Electoral votes
! Explanation
! Actual Effect
|-
|Pennsylvania
|x5
|20
|Pennsylvania is considered an absolute necessity for Trump, and considered very important for Biden. Pre-election polling showed Biden leading by 3 points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Maine
|rowspan="3"|x4
|4
|Maine is worth 4 electoral votes, but awards 2 based on the statewide popular vote and 1 vote each for the winners of its 2 congressional districts.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state and the first congressional district; President Trump won the second.
|-
|Arizona
|11
|Arizona is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year, with Joe Biden leading by 2 percentage points in pre-election polling. Additionally, polls predicted a high likelihood of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to Democrats.
|Challenger Kelly (D) defeated Senator McSally (R).
|-
|Nevada
|6
|Nevada has historically been considered a "bellwether" state, with a similar distribution of voters to the nation as a whole. The state has shifted more toward the Democratic Party recently, but remains competitive.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|
|-
|Alaska
|rowspan="3"|x3
|3
|
|
|-
|Montana
|3
|Polls showed a possibility of a Senate seat flipping from the Republicans to the Democrats.
|Senator Daines (R) defeated challenger Bullock (D).
|-
|New Mexico
|5
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Wisconsin
|rowspan="7"|x2
|10
|Wisconsin was surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as pre-election polling had him trailing by 6-7 percentage points. Polling for the 2020 election favored Biden by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden is the apparent winner.
|-
|Minnesota
|10
|Minnesota was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but by a close margin of 1.5 percentage points. Polling for 2020 has Biden favored by 7 percentage points.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Iowa
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|North Carolina
|15
|North Carolina is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|
|-
|New Hampshire
|4
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Georgia
|16
|Georgia is not typically a swing state, as it usually votes for the Republican Party candidate. However, it is considered a swing state this year.
|
|-
|Nebraska
|5
|Like Maine, Nebraska splits up its votes, awarding 2 votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, and 1 each for the winners of its 3 congressional districts.
|President Trump won the state and the first and third congressional districts; former Vice President Biden won the second.
|-
|Michigan
|rowspan="5"|x1
|16
|Michigan was also surprisingly won by Trump in 2016, as he was also trailing in pre-election polling. Biden has a 6 point lead in polling in 2020.
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|Florida
|29
|With 29 electoral votes, Florida has the 3rd most electoral votes to be distributed. It is also typically a swing state and determines the winner of an election.
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Kansas
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Mississippi
|6
|
|President Trump won the state.
|-
|Colorado
|9
|
|Former Vice President Biden won the state.
|-
|All other states
|x1/2
|''varies''
|Randall considers other states as less important than the above nineteen in influencing the outcome of the presidential election.
|See below
|}

As for all other states: President Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; while former Vice President won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.

==Transcript==
<big>Do you know anyone in Arizona?</big>

Research shows that reminders from friends and family to vote have a bigger effect on turnout than anything campaigns do.

One of the best ways you can help is to scroll through your contacts (or use apps like VoteWithMe) to find people you can check in with to see if they plan to vote or need help doing it.

This chart lets you tally the effect of your reminders on the outcome based on who you've contacted and where they live.

<big>Election impact score sheet</big>

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
|
|x5
|
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
|
|x4
|
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
|
|x3
|
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
|
|x2
|
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
|
|x½
|
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Multiplier based on 538 presidential vote impact, plus points for senate and local elections

''In smaller text, to the right of the main score sheet, a duplicate of the score sheet with red tally marks and points is shown''

{| class = "wikitable"
! State
! Check-ins
! Bonus*
! Points
|-
|Pennsylvania
| (2 tally marks)
|x5
| 10
|-
|Maine Arizona Nevada
| (1 tally mark)
|x4
| 4
|-
|Alaska Montana New Mexico
| (1 tally mark)
|x3
| 3
|-
|Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa North Carolina New Hampshire Georgia Nebraska
| (3 tally marks)
|x2
| 6
|-
|Michigan Florida Kansas Mississippi Colorado
|
|x1
|
|-
|All other states
| (6 tally marks)
|x½
| 3
|-
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Your election impact:'''
|26
|}

''Followed by an arrow, pointing to the "Your election impact" total box in the main table, is this text''

Based on turnout experiments, 10 points on this scale has roughly as much effect on the outcome as one average vote. For every 10 points you tally, it's as if you voted again!

''Below the main score sheet table''

 [Click for printable version]

Share a pic of your score sheet with ''#Hashtag'', and be sure to send a copy to Nate Silver to let him know to include those extra votes in his model!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:253: Highway Engineer Pranks

2020-09-27T05:08:10Z

MarsJenkar:

The US-67 @ IH-20 interchange in Dallas has sort of a zero-choice interchange: If you're not already on the highway, attempting to get on the highway will take you beyond the interchange. It's a mess. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.153|108.162.221.153]] 05:38, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

: That's not a bug, it's a feature! On-ramps within a mile or so of a major junction are the main cause for a lot of junction backups, as the paths of people limited to one lane (and slowing down) intersect with those trying to pass through and merge into 60+mph traffic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.87|108.162.221.87]] 12:04, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

From a European point of view, Boston does have a rather uniform street grid, it's not comparable to the traffic difficulties you'll get in major European cities like London, Paris, Rome, Berlin or Brussels. For many of those cities, the inner town just has to be avoided in a car. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.136|173.245.49.136]] 23:56, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Prank 61: Canberra. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.221|108.162.249.221]] 05:27, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
: what? oh yeah - the driving on the wrong side of the road thing - that would get confusing... but seriously, it's... interesting from what I can tell by Google Maps' representation of it - assuming I could discount the side of the road I'm on, and if I get a good look at the map before going out, I don't think it looks that bad. {{unsigned ip|Brettpeirce}}
:: It's not driving on the OTHER side of the road that's the issue, it just a sort of running joke with many non-Canberran Australians visiting Canberra and complaining about the (relatively large) number of roundabouts in the city. Even Parliament House is built on a massive roundabout.-Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 03:26, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
::: In which case, I propose Prank #62 would be Carmel, Indiana, for the sheer number of roundabouts there compared to the rest of the USA. (Edited to add: Probably a small amount compared to a number of cities in Europe, but you just don't see the modern roundabout get much love in the USA. I think the residual hatred of traffic circles/rotaries is the main factor here, with general unfamiliarity playing a major role as well.) [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 04:59, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

The Supercollider has a stylized "S" inscribed in a circle, as if a logo. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 13:58, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:253: Highway Engineer Pranks

2020-09-27T05:02:50Z

MarsJenkar: Edited to add.

The US-67 @ IH-20 interchange in Dallas has sort of a zero-choice interchange: If you're not already on the highway, attempting to get on the highway will take you beyond the interchange. It's a mess. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.153|108.162.221.153]] 05:38, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

: That's not a bug, it's a feature! On-ramps within a mile or so of a major junction are the main cause for a lot of junction backups, as the paths of people limited to one lane (and slowing down) intersect with those trying to pass through and merge into 60+mph traffic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.87|108.162.221.87]] 12:04, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

From a European point of view, Boston does have a rather uniform street grid, it's not comparable to the traffic difficulties you'll get in major European cities like London, Paris, Rome, Berlin or Brussels. For many of those cities, the inner town just has to be avoided in a car. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.136|173.245.49.136]] 23:56, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Prank 61: Canberra. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.221|108.162.249.221]] 05:27, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
: what? oh yeah - the driving on the wrong side of the road thing - that would get confusing... but seriously, it's... interesting from what I can tell by Google Maps' representation of it - assuming I could discount the side of the road I'm on, and if I get a good look at the map before going out, I don't think it looks that bad. {{unsigned ip|Brettpeirce}}
:: It's not driving on the OTHER side of the road that's the issue, it just a sort of running joke with many non-Canberran Australians visiting Canberra and complaining about the (relatively large) number of roundabouts in the city. Even Parliament House is built on a massive roundabout.-Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 03:26, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
::: In which case, I propose Prank #62 would be Carmel, Indiana, for the sheer number of roundabouts there compared to the rest of the USA. (Edited to add: Probably a small amount compared to a number of cities in Europe, but you just don't see the modern roundabout get much love in the USA. I think the residual hatred of traffic circles/rotaries is the main factor here.) [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 04:59, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

The Supercollider has a stylized "S" inscribed in a circle, as if a logo. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 13:58, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:253: Highway Engineer Pranks

2020-09-27T04:59:33Z

MarsJenkar: Proposed prank #62.

The US-67 @ IH-20 interchange in Dallas has sort of a zero-choice interchange: If you're not already on the highway, attempting to get on the highway will take you beyond the interchange. It's a mess. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.153|108.162.221.153]] 05:38, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

: That's not a bug, it's a feature! On-ramps within a mile or so of a major junction are the main cause for a lot of junction backups, as the paths of people limited to one lane (and slowing down) intersect with those trying to pass through and merge into 60+mph traffic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.87|108.162.221.87]] 12:04, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

From a European point of view, Boston does have a rather uniform street grid, it's not comparable to the traffic difficulties you'll get in major European cities like London, Paris, Rome, Berlin or Brussels. For many of those cities, the inner town just has to be avoided in a car. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.136|173.245.49.136]] 23:56, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Prank 61: Canberra. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.221|108.162.249.221]] 05:27, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
: what? oh yeah - the driving on the wrong side of the road thing - that would get confusing... but seriously, it's... interesting from what I can tell by Google Maps' representation of it - assuming I could discount the side of the road I'm on, and if I get a good look at the map before going out, I don't think it looks that bad. {{unsigned ip|Brettpeirce}}
:: It's not driving on the OTHER side of the road that's the issue, it just a sort of running joke with many non-Canberran Australians visiting Canberra and complaining about the (relatively large) number of roundabouts in the city. Even Parliament House is built on a massive roundabout.-Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 03:26, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
::: In which case, I propose Prank #62 would be Carmel, Indiana, for the sheer number of roundabouts there compared to the rest of the USA. [[User:MarsJenkar|MarsJenkar]] ([[User talk:MarsJenkar|talk]]) 04:59, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

The Supercollider has a stylized "S" inscribed in a circle, as if a logo. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 13:58, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

2079: Alpha Centauri

2018-11-30T19:12:10Z

MarsJenkar: /* Explanation */ Referencing previous comics.

{{comic
| number = 2079
| date = November 30, 2018
| title = Alpha Centauri
| image = alpha_centauri.png
| titletext = And let's be honest, it's more like two and a half stars. Proxima is barely a star and barely bound to the system.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an INTERGALACTIC YELPER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Alpha Centauri}} is the closest star system to our solar system, being 4.37 {{w|light-year}}s away. As such, there are numerous ongoing plans and projects to journey to, and explore the star system. Ponytail announces such a project using a {{w|Voyager program|Voyager}}-like probe.

However, the offscreen person is against her idea, saying "Alpha Centauri sucks". The comic makes a joke on rating systems, by saying it only has 3 stars. Alpha Centauri indeed only has 3 stars, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.

Many rating systems, such as {{w|Yelp}}, use a {{w|Star (classification)|star rating system}}, with more stars indicating higher quality. Generally, they are rated out of 5, and 3 stars out of 5 stars would theoretically be a "middling" rating, equating to a C grade. However, a previous comic, [[1098: Star Ratings]], points out that star ratings below 4 out of 5 tend to be seen as "crap".

The title text refers to Proxima Centauri, a {{w|red dwarf}}, which is a type of low-mass star. According to the offscreen person, this barely qualifies it to be a star. Furthermore, Proxima Centauri is nearly 13,000 AU (0.21 light years) away from the other 2 stars in the system, so it was long unknown whether Proxima Centauri was gravitationally bound to the Alpha Centauri star system or not.

===Calculations===
All numbers are rounded after subsequent calculations.

4.367 light years / 35 years = 0.12477 light years/year

0.12477 light years/year * 5.879e+12 miles/light year = 733,484,000,000 miles/year

733,484,000,000 miles/year / 365 days/year / 24 hours/day = 83,000,000 Miles/hour / 1.60934 miles/kilometer = 134,000,000 Kilometers/hour

According to [https://www.space.com/41447-parker-solar-probe-fastest-spacecraft-ever.html space.com] the fastest spacecraft ever will be the Parker Solar Probe which will reach 430,000 mph (692,000 km/h) as it reaches its closest point orbiting the sun. This is just over half of 1% of the needed speed of the Alpha Centauri vehicle proposed in the comic. The Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, is currently traveling at about 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h).

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail stands on a podium giving a presentation in front of a slide with an image of a [https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 Voyager-like] satellite.]
:Ponytail: Our probe can reach Alpha Centauri in under 35 years.
:Offscreen voice: We should go somewhere else. Alpha Centauri sucks.
:Ponytail: Huh? It's the closest most convenient system!
:Offscreen: Yeah, but I checked online and it only has three stars.

{{comic discussion}}